COVID-19, lockdown and peasants in Zimbabwe

The exploration of COVID-19 in Zimbabwe and the consequent responses have blind spots in relation to peasant communities. Despite the peasantry featuring in Zimbabwe's agrarian reform literature, such literature is lacking when it comes to the interrogation of how this diverse and sometimes less recognised group responded to the novel virus. The article explores peasant life in a time of COVID-19 and lockdown in Zimbabwe, paying special attention to the impact of the pandemic on their 'total way of life', their agency in responding to the pandemic in an agrarian context, and implications for the present and future.